Description
Why this role exists Taking Root is growing its forest restoration projects across Latin America, and we need someone to help fuel that growth. As our Senior Commercial Partnerships Lead, you'll build and manage relationships with corporate buyers and strategic funders, lead proposals, and shepherd partnerships from first conversation through to delivery.
Reporting to the Director of Commercial & Standards, this role sits at the intersection of climate impact and commercial execution. The work you do will directly help mobilize the capital needed to scale restoration and improve farmer livelihoods across the region.
This is not a passive account management role. It requires someone who can move between building long-term strategic relationships and closing near-term funding opportunities.
What you'll actually do Building and managing partnerships - Develop and execute commercial partnership strategies across corporate carbon buyers and strategic funders to advance organizational growth
- Source, evaluate, and prioritize high-value corporate and grant opportunities across voluntary carbon markets and climate finance
- Cultivate and maintain long-term relationships with key buyer partners, funders, and strategic stakeholders
- Represent Taking Root at industry conferences, external meetings, and partner engagements
- Structure and negotiate partnership agreements and carbon credit offtake contracts in coordination with leadership
- Develop compelling partnership materials including proposals, presentations, and project profiles
Account management and reporting - Manage key buyer and funder accounts, ensuring commitments are met and relationships are actively maintained
- Coordinate carbon credit sales processes including contract execution, delivery scheduling, and inventory management
- Track funder reporting obligations and ensure timely, high-quality delivery of all required deliverables
- Maintain accurate pipeline and revenue data, providing regular commercial performance reporting to leadership
- Identify performance gaps and drive continuous improvement across account management processes
Strategic funding and proposal development - Identify and assess large-scale grant and blended finance opportunities aligned with Taking Root's strategic priorities
- Lead end-to-end proposal development including concept design, narrative writing, budget coordination, and submission
- Build and manage consortium partnerships with aligned organizations where appropriate
- Maintain a prioritized funding pipeline and ensure high-quality opportunities are consistently advanced
- Coordinate cross-functional input on scope, budgets, and deliverables to ensure proposal feasibility
Cross-functional collaboration - Partner with operations, finance, and leadership to ensure partnership commitments are grounded in organizational capacity
- Serve as the commercial point of contact across internal teams, driving alignment on priorities and timelines
- Translate market insights and partner feedback into actionable recommendations for commercial strategy
- Escalate risks and surface opportunities proactively, keeping leadership informed on revenue progress and pipeline health
What this role is not - Not a passive account management role - you're expected to drive pipeline and close
- Not a solo act - delivering on commitments means pulling in operations, finance, and leadership
- Not entry level - you'll own complex, multi-stakeholder partnerships
What success looks like By the end of your first year:
- We're generating more revenue from a stronger, more diversified set of partners - corporate buyers and funders are actively engaged and deals are moving
- Buyer partners and funders feel the relationship - they trust us, they hear from us consistently, and we deliver on what we promise
- Proposals go out on time, are compelling, and reflect what we can actually deliver - cross-functional alignment happens before submission, not after
- Leadership routinely makes commercial decisions based on clear, timely reporting you've put in place - no one is guessing where things stand
- The grants pipeline is live, prioritized, and actively managed - high-quality opportunities are consistently advanced, nothing falls through the cracks
Who this role is for Experience: - 7+ years in commercial partnerships, business development, carbon markets, climate finance, or international development fundraising
- A track record of managing complex commercial relationships, not just maintaining them
- Experience writing and submitting grant proposals
- Professional fluency in Spanish and English - this is a requirement, not a nice-to-have
- Familiarity with voluntary carbon markets and nature-based solutions is preferred
- Experience raising funding for climate or nature projects in Latin America is a plus
Technical depth and ways of working: - Exceptional relationship-building skills with corporate partners and funders across diverse international audiences
- Ability to build champions and advocates within partner organizations
- Strong commercial execution - able to manage opportunity lifecycles from identification through agreement
- Strategic thinking with the ability to translate priorities into actionable partnership plans
- Strong organizational skills; comfortable managing multiple high-priority opportunities simultaneously
- Proficiency in CRM systems, sales tracking, and presentation and reporting tools
Hands-on, low ego, and mission-driven - Has worked in a small to mid-sized, fast-moving organization where everyone contributes to execution
- Comfortable with ambiguity and able to bring clarity to complex, multi-stakeholder situations
- Low ego, high trust, and genuinely energized by the mission
- Motivated by work that connects commercial outcomes to real environmental and social impact
We especially encourage those with unconventional experience, education, or career paths to apply, even if you may not meet every requirement listed here.
How to Apply Please submit a cover letter and resume.
